MOMA’s Modern Women’s Project

But back in early May, when I first heard about MoMA’s “Modern Women’s Project,” presumably designed to redress the problem, I thought it was — frankly — stupid. According to published reports, MoMA’s project involves a series of exhibitions showing work by female artists and a book called “Women Artists in the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art.” So the way MoMA shows that it is an equal-opportunity exhibitor/collector is to create a ghetto for women artists?

That’s certainly not the way I would approach the problem. Morgan Freeman’s famous remark calling the idea of a month dedicated to black history “ridiculous” came immediately to my mind: “I don’t want a black history month. Black history is American history,” he said.

And I don’t want “women artists’ shows” — if curators can’t find women, in this day and age, whose art measures up to, or exceeds, work being created by men, they’re not doing their jobs.

Nor do I want shows that herald an artist who happens to be female as a woman artist — as if that in itself were a valorous and courageous thing to do.

5 comments

Ugh. I don’t like these kinds of transparent, obvious shows either but I’m really, really tired of women picking apart “women’s” art or fiction or poems or moviemaking or whatever. Like Black History month, a women’s art show is ridiculous and somewhat offense and of course entirely inadequate. But it’s an attempt at correction. Heavy-handed though it may be, it’s the kind of move that acknowledges how uneven the playing field is. In a perfect world, sure, we could just keep calling for well balanced shows incorporating all ranges of gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, etc. But we are so far from that. And the old white men who run the place may just need a heavy-handed message to get moving in another, more inclusive direction.

I agree with you but here’s the thing: The folks at the museum thought they were off the hook and used this as evidence. The fact is you are never “off the hook.” Just admit it and keep at it with gusto, that would be my recommendation.